Alfonse D'Amato

Trump and Sanders? Primaries for the history books

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On Monday, Republican and Democratic delegates from around the great state of Iowa will hold district conventions, at which attendees in their respective precincts will mark the names of the presidential candidates they support.

Votes will be counted in each precinct and reported to the state party by elected delegates via a new smartphone app developed for both parties. The vote will then be calculated and percentages announced, but it is not a binding vote. The Iowa caucuses are used by the candidates to gain momentum, and are viewed as a crucial stop on the primary trail.

As of this writing, the latest CNN poll had Donald Trump with a decent lead over Sen. Ted Cruz among Republicans. More surprising was the 8-point lead Sen. Bernie Sanders had built over Hillary Clinton among Democrats. Iowa feels the Bern! There are other polls that show Hillary with a narrow lead, but only by a couple of points.

Many Democrats are terrified by the thought of Sanders leading the ticket, and they should be. I don’t see how he would win in a general election. But you have to give him credit: He has spent twice as much time as Hillary in Iowa. His hard work has really paid off.

Clinton’s struggle with Iowa voters couldn’t have come at a worse time. The email scandal will not go away, amid reports that the FBI investigation is still going strong.

Who would have thought that Sanders, a liberal senator from the tiny state of Vermont, would have a real shot of beating her? Democrats are in a panic. Bernie hasn’t rolled over and played dead for the Clintons like everyone expected him to do. I think much of it will come down to minority voters — will they really desert the Clintons? I think that if they see that Hillary is losing ground and begin to really pay attention to Sanders, many voters will move toward Team Sanders.

On the Republican side, Trump is on the upswing. If he manages to win in Iowa and then claim victory in the New Hampshire primary eight days later, it will be very hard for anyone to defeat him going forward. If Cruz is able to win in Iowa, he, too, could gain the momentum. At this point, however, I don’t see anyone else winning.

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